ed for some
of the belts and for the armlets. They make their thread out of fine
vegetable fibre as they proceed with the manufacture of the band,
rolling the individual fibres with their hands upon their thighs,
and then rolling these fibres into two-strand threads, and from time
to time in this way making more thread, which is worked into the open
ends of the then working thread as it is required--all this being
done in the usual native method.

I had an opportunity of watching a woman making a leg-band, and I think
the process is worth describing. She first made a thread 5 or 6 feet
long by the method above referred to, the thread being a two-strand
one, made out of small lengths about 5 or 6 inches long of the
original fibre, rolled together and added to from time to time until
the full length of 5 or 6 feet of thread had been made. The thread
was of the thickness of very coarse European thread or exceedingly
fine string. She next wound the thread into a triple loop of the size
of the proposed leg-band. This triple loop was to be the base upon
which she was to make the leg-band, of which it would form the first
line and upper edge. It was only about 11 inches in circumference, and
thus left two ends, one of which (I will call it "the working thread")
was a long one, and the other of which (I will call it "the inside
thread") was a short one. Both these threads hung down together from
the same point (which I will call "the starting point"). She then,
commencing at the starting point, worked the working thread round the
triple base by a series of interlacing loops in the form shown (very
greatly magnified) in Fig. 1; but the loops were drawn quite tight,
and not left loose, as, for the purpose of illustration, I have had to
make them in the figure. This process was carried round the base until
she had again reached the starting point, at which stage the base,
with its tightly drawn loop work all around it, was firm and strong,
and there were still the two ends of thread hanging from the starting
point. Here and at subsequent stages of the work she added to the
lengths of these two ends from time to time in the way above described
when they needed it, and the two ends of thread were therefore always
present. Then began the making of the second line. This was commenced
at the starting point, from which the two ends of thread hung,
and was effected by a series of loops made with the working thread
in the way already des